12 THE TREATY OF WASHINGTON. 



statesmen evolve peace; and that it is only by the 

 incompetency of statesmen of one side or the other, — 

 that is, their ignorance, their passion, their prejudice, 

 their ^vant of forecast, or their willfully aggressive 

 ambition, — that the unspeakable calamities of war are 

 ever tlirust on tlie sutferiug world. IS^either Mr. Fish 

 nor Earl De Grey, nor their respective associates, 

 could afford to take on their consciences the respon- 

 sibility, or on their characters the shame, of the non- 

 success on this occasion of a last effort to renovate 

 and re-establish in perpetuity relations of cordial 

 friendship between Great Britain and the United 

 States. And, if they needed other impulse to right 

 conclusion, that was given by the wise and Arm direc- 

 tion of the President, hero in person, and of the Queen, 

 here in ellect through the means of daily telegraphic 

 communication. 



Happily for the peace of the two countries and for 

 the welfare of the world, the negotiators proved equal 

 to the emergency, in courage as well as in statesman- 

 ship. The Government and the people of Great Brit- 

 ain had learned to regret sincerely the occurrence of 

 the acts or facts which had given such deep offense, 

 and which had done such serious injury, to the United 

 States ; and, moreover, the Government and people o^ 

 this country had come to desire, with ecpial sincerity, 

 that some honorable solution of the existing difficul- 

 ties might be found, so as. to leave room for the un- 

 obstructed action here of the prevailing natural tend- 

 ency toward unreserved intellectual and commercial 

 association with Great Britain. Material interests, 



